


Reciprocal

by JuliaJekyll



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Blood, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Canon-Typical Violence, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Love, Love Confessions, M/M, Male Slash, My First Work in This Fandom, Pain, Read at Your Own Risk, Stabbing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-06-21
Packaged: 2018-04-05 12:30:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4179936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaJekyll/pseuds/JuliaJekyll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The finale of Season 2, a little differently.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reciprocal

**Author's Note:**

> I have chosen not to use archive warnings to avoid spoilers. If you don't mind spoilers and feel the need to avoid anything that's usually involved in those warnings, see the bottom note.

Will Graham shuddered as he felt the cold bite of an expertly sharpened knife in his side. He gasped with pain and shock and would probably have stumbled to his knees had Dr. Lecter not been there to hold him up. As it was, his psychiatrist pulled him into what could almost be considered an embrace, pulling the knife slowly from Will's side and letting it drop to the floor so that he could place both arms around Will, one bloody hand pressing into his back, the other cupping his cheek. Will went boneless in the doctor's arms, slumping forward, feeling the blood flow from the cut that the other man had just created in his right side.

His brain felt swamped in numbness and confusion, as if he'd lost time again, and he wondered if that was exactly what was happening now. Perhaps he'd wake up soon and remember none of this; find out that it had simply been a nightmare or a horrifying vision. Will had had enough nightmares and blackouts for that to be plausible, but he could not, would not, did not want to believe that Hannibal Lecter, a man that he had thought had become his friend, could stab him so easily.

He couldn't pretend that he hadn't thought Dr. Lecter capable of murder, but he hadn't wanted to think he'd be capable of murdering Will. Will wanted to believe that he meant something to Dr. Lecter; that maybe the other man valued him, too. And, in moments of weakness, he'd admitted to himself that perhaps friendship wasn't the limit of what he felt for the doctor.

“Shhh,” Hannibal said quietly, almost tenderly, as he cradled Will's bleeding body. But Will couldn't help the small keening noises that were escaping from his throat.

“Hannibal-” Will choked out, wanting to demand an explanation, wanting to know why, possibly wanting to shout in anger, but not able to speak around the pain.

“Shhh,” Hannibal repeated, angling Will's face upward so that he had to meet his eyes. “I've got you. I'm here.”

“You...stabbed-”

“Don't try to speak, Will; as you may have already guessed, time is not on our side.” Hannibal's hand abandoned Will's face, and Will dimly felt the moisture of his own blood that was left behind as the doctor slid his arm securely around Will's waist, keeping him on his feet as his other hand dipped down to the gash in Will's side and his fingers pressed into the flesh just above it, causing Will to cry out as he felt the pain of the pressure, coupled with the way the blood began to flow faster.

“Now,” Hannibal said, withdrawing his hand from Will's wound and bringing it once more to his face, forcing Will to look at him, “listen to me carefully, William.”

“Murderer,” Will gasped.

“I don't deny it.” Hannibal's hand tightened on Will's jaw. “But I needn't murder you. I don't want to, Will.”

“You...already...”

“No, I haven't. You're not dead yet. I was very careful to stab you so that we'd have some time to talk before you bled out. I suggest that you utilize it wisely, by which I mean, listen to me.”

Will fell silent, except for an occasional whimper.

“Good,” Hannibal said conversationally. His slender, skillful fingers, sticky with Will's blood, stroked lightly over Will's face. “Do you know why I've done this, Will?”

“Because...I know....what you are.”

“No. I don't care that you know. I'd even have told you myself, if I didn't know that your reaction would be to try and put me away. I don't kill indiscriminantly, Will, and I don't want to kill you, but if I know that you're going to take away my freedom, I will. I stabbed you in order to show you that this is not an empty threat.”

Will made a strangled sound. His vision was starting to blur.

“Are you listening?” Hannibal asked, shaking Will's head slightly.

“Y-yes,” Will stammered.

“Let me live, Will,” Hannibal whispered. “Let me live, and I'll do the same for you.”

“You...” Will licked his lips, struggling more and more against the urge to pass out. “Insane.”

Hannibal smiled then. “Will, I'm a licensed psychiatrist. If I were insane, don't you think I'd know it?”

Will didn't bother to answer that one; he no longer had the energy.

Hannibal leaned his face close to Will's; closer than he'd ever been. Even though he'd just been stabbed not moments before, Will's heart skipped a beat at the proximity. Hannibal was so cursedly beautiful. How could he feel this way about the man who was trying to kill him?

“Will,” Hannibal breathed against his mouth. Slowly, with careful deliberation, he brushed his lips against Will's. Weakly, Will tried to turn it into a proper kiss. Gently, Hannibal lowered Will to the floor, continuing to support him so that he was sitting upright.

“I've wanted you for ages, you know,” he said, his voice barely audible. His mouth brushed Will's ear. “I do believe I've fallen in love with you, William. That's why I'm giving you this chance. I don't want you to be dead, but if you want to destroy my life, I'll kill you right here. If I save you, and you betray me later on, I will kill you.”

“You'll be...locked up...”

Hannibal laughed quietly. “If they already know what I am, what's one more kill going to hurt?” He pressed a soft kiss to Will's temple. “Don't make me kill you, Will.”

“What if...I don't...”

“If you don't return my feelings for you? I'll still let you live, as long as you don't turn me over. It would be fairly pointless to kill you just because you don't love me.”

“I do.” They were the clearest words Will had spoken since he'd been stabbed, and they made Hannibal arch his eyebrows slightly in surprise before he began stroking Will's jaw and neck with one blood-coated hand.

“I'll take care of you,” Hannibal said quietly. “I'll be your friend, your lover, anything you wish me to be. Only do this for me.”

“Will you...stop-”

“No.” Hannibal stroked Will's face. “That, I cannot give you. This is who I am, Will.”

Will gave a ragged sigh. “I wish...you...different.”

“If I were, you would not love me.” The phrase sounded a bit stilted, as if Hannibal still could not quite believe that Will loved him too. “Please,” he said.

Will had never heard Hannibal Lecter use that word before. He hesitated, struggling in his pain-clouded mind with the decision Hannibal was offering him. Live, and have Hannibal's love, but allow Hannibal to go on killing...or die with his principles, and still let Hannibal go on killing.

There had only ever been one choice.

“Will you...hold me? While...I die?”

Hannibal's grip tightened, and Will didn't think he imagined the catch in his voice when he said “Of course I will.”

“And will you...kiss...properly?”

Hannibal hesitated, then said “If I may.”

“Please.”

Slowly, Hannibal leaned down and pressed his lips to Will's. They were as soft as Will had imagined they'd be, and they moved with a gentleness that made Will feel like he was melting inside. He kissed Hannibal back, the pain in his side pushed to the back of his mind by the feeling of Hannibal's mouth over his, Hannibal's hand on his neck, scraping lightly and sensually with his fingernails.

“I love you,” Will whispered against the doctor's mouth.

“And I you,” Hannibal whispered back. “I shall miss you greatly, William.”

His lips separated from Will's only when the latter became too weak to kiss back. Blood covered the both of them, not to mention the floor on which they sat, but Hannibal did not stir until he felt the life drain entirely from Will's body. Then, and only then, did he leave, without a lover, but a free man.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic involves major character death.


End file.
